Straight knitting machine



Feb. 23, 1932. Y. RUINNET STRAIGHT KNITTING MACHINE Filed May :51, 1929 s Sheets-Sheet 1 Feb. 23, 1932. Y. RUINNET 1,846,761

STRAIGHT KNITTING MACHINE Filed May 31, 1929 s Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig.9

Feb. 23, 1932. Y. RUINNET 1,346,761

STRAIGHT KNITTING MACHINE" Filed May 31, 1929 3 Sheets-=Sheet 3 B) I wi AZ OZfA H Patented Feb. 23, 1932 PATENT OFFICE YVES BUINNE-T, or ARGENTEUIL, FRANCE STRAIGHT KNITTING MACHINE Application filed May 31, 1929, Serial No. 367,321, and in Germany June 8, 1928;

The present invention relates to machines which are provided with two parallel rows of needles having heels adapted to be acted upon by the cams of a travelling carriage movable to and fro along a path parallel to the rows of needles.

With the modern method of making multicolored knitting by means of the above machines, the thread which has been led from left to right to be knit is compelled to return from right to left, and in this second phase it is superposed on the knitting with the result that the thickness thereof is double.

One of the objects of the present invention is to remedy the above inconvenience by avoiding the superimposition of the return thread, thus rendering the knitting more elastic,-lighter and of uniform thickness.

Up to the present time, when two threads were used, and with the needles actuated by any suitable means, each thread had to com plete a to and fro movement with the carriage for the reason that the latter had to return to its starting point before it could gather a new thread.

The main object of my invention is to extend the travel of the carriage beyond the working zone of the needles and to provide it with two thread-guides which are oflset with respect to each other, in such manner that the carriage engages the thread-guides at the end of each single course only when it has travelled over a certain distance.

Another object of my invention consists in maintaining between the outer thread-guide and the knitting, at the end of the carriages travel, a small length of taut thread, horizontally, which thread is then automatically severed, one end thereof remaining integral with the end of the knitting to form fringes.

A further object of my invention lies in maintaining the opposite end of the severed thread in the thread-guide by means of a brake, thus preventing it from being unthreaded by the tension to which it is subjected. For this purpose, the length of the thread is such that it may be gathered by the needles when it again works therewith.

At the end of each single course, the threadguide whose thread has been severed brings 5 back the latter which is then free from the needles, while the thread of the other threadguide is gathered by the needles, the corresponding thread-guide remaining in the working zone of the needles due to the above stated fact that the thread-guides are in ofiset relation.

During the next single course, the respective operations of the thread-guides will be reversed. It will be seen, therefore, that in go this manner the return thread is never superimposed upon the knitting.

An illustrative embodiment of my invention is disclosed in the accompanying drawings, wherein: 5

Figure 1 is a front view of a straight knitting machine provided with the devices referred to;

Figure 2 is a sectional view along line 22 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a top plan view of Figure 1, with the carriage and its thread-guides at one end of travel;

Figure 4 is a view of the brake maintaining the thread within the thread-guide; Figure 5 is a view of the fixed blade of the,

thread cutter.

Referring to the drawings, 1 indicates a bar extending across the whole length of the machine and secured at both ends thereof to so the frame itself. Slidably mounted upon said bar are two pairs of shear carriers 2 and 3 arranged toproject upwards in the space 21, 22, between both needle. rows and to be secured at any place on said bar as by means of screw 4.- (Fig. 2).

Secured on these carriers are small hardened steel parts 5 providing the stationary blades of the shears (Fig. 5).

The other blade is movable and is swingable about a stud 6; this movable portion of the shears being actuated by means of a small lever 7 controlled through another lever 8.

An additional bar or shaft 9 carried by two brackets 23, 24 rigid with the machine frame at either end of the latter is rotatably mounted in said brackets.

Four levers are keyed upon said shaft 9 intermediate the ends thereof. Two of these levers 10 and 11 are actuated by a cam 12 secured to the carriage each time the latter is shifted, and they impart a rocking motion to the shaft 9 to which they are secured and which, in turn, imparts a similar motion to the two remaining levers 13 and '14; said levers 13 and 14 actuating the shears through levers 8 and 7.

Thread guides 15 and 16 (Fig. 3) slidably mounted u on guide bars 26, '27 are both driven by t e extensions 17 on the carriage,

neither of which ever leaves the carriage during the operation. The driving of the threadguides by the carriage occurs as follows:

Driving blocks 28, 29' of thread-guides 15, 16 are provided with grooves 30, 31 within which the projections 33, 34 of the extensions 17 of carriage 25 may travel between the catches 18, 19. The catch 18 whereby the thread-guide is driven when operative, is arranged as in any machine so that the threadkeeper 35 may be correctly positioned toifeed the thread to the needles, while the other catch 19 is offset by some centimeters so that, on the carriage coming back in the reverse direction, the thread-keeper which is to remain idle during this new course may clear the working needles and be positioned behind the latter, Fig. 3.

Moreover, these thread-guides 15, 16 carry at the upper portion thereof a device intended to prevent the thread from being driven backwards. This device comprises a thin steel blade 20, preferably of the shape shown in Fig. 4.

Operation-It will be assumed that the fabric to be obtained is two colours, viz. white and blue; one single course being knitted white and the other blue.

The carriage drives both thread-guides, guide 15 feeding a white thread and the other guide 16 feeding a blue thread.

In working from the right to-the left, the front extension 17 of the carriage drives the thread guide 15 by means of its normal drivecatch 18. Said thread-guide 15 thus normally feeds white thread to the needles. The other extension 17 'on the carriage likewise drives the other thread-guide 16 by means of its drive-catch 19 which is offset, whereby the same is caused to lag some, centimeters behind the preceding guide 15; the blue thread fed by the same cannot possibly be picked up by the needles as the latter are already in their retracted positions at the time said guide is passing by.

On arriving at the end 36 of the frame, that is, after the single course is completed, the carriage 25 actuates through the cam arranged at the lower portion thereof the mechanism for the shears. At that time, the thread-guide 15 has run beyond the extremity of the fabric 37 by some centimeters. As the thread lies in a horizontal tightened position above the shears, it is cut ofi by the latter. One end of the thread remains with the end of the fabric while a few centimeters length of thread remains depending from the ex tremity of the guide andcannot be pulled back by the tensioning means, this being precluged by the braking device 20 on the threadgul e.

The carriage will then be shifted from the left to the right to accomplish the second step of its work, but its back extension 17 will now drive the thread-guide 16 normally as the piston this time engages the normal drive-catch of the latter. The thread-guide 16 in turn will thus feed blue thread to the needles while the other thread-guide 15 will do what the thread-guide 16 did during the first half-turn, that is, will follow with a few centimeters lag with a white thread end trailing from its extremity, which end will not be picked up by the needles as the latter are already in their retracted positions at the time said guide is passing by.

On arriving at the other end of the frame, that is, the right side of it, the carriage will actuate, through its cam 12, the mechanism for the shears, whereby the blue thread, which then is in a tightened position, is cut off, after which the carriage is re-started, white thread being now fed as formerly, and so on.

Therefore, after the carriage has worked through a complete cycle (two single courses), threads of two different colours have been employed, one during the direct stroke and the other during the return stroke.

When the thread has been cut, it is returned on the thread guide by the braking device 20 and hangs of its own weight with a length riage, a thread guide for each thread, guide bars whereon said thread guides are slidably mounted to enable them to be driven by said carriage, means for stopping the carriage beyond" the working zone of the needle so that the operative thread guide may feed a certain additional length of thread, automatically actuated thread cutters to cut off this additional length of thread, one end of which remains attached to the extremity of the work, a device for keeping the other end of said additional length of thread depending from the corresponding thread guide, and means for positionin the thread guides on their respectlve guide ars in such a manner that when the needles become operative the free end of the thread which remained unpicked during the first single course may lend itself to the action of said needles and be picked up by the latter, while the thread 10 which was fed to the needles during the first single course is allowed to trail between both needle rows as the carriage is shifted across the whole frame.

In testimony whereof, I afiix my signature. 15 V YVES RUINNET. 

